FLCL. FuriKuri. Fooly Cooly. Nyow.

So. Anime. This is my first time covering a Japanese cartoon on the site, so let's get a couple things out of the way.

A lot of people who are resistant to watching anime cite its strangeness as a reason for its inaccessibility. They're afraid they won't "get it", or they think animation is for children and are turned off by the more adult themes, or they saw a bunch of out-of-context clips one time and think they can write off all of it.

To which I say, anime is not a genre. It's a medium, and like all artistic mediums it includes several subsets and genres. Some of it is aimed toward children, but a lot of it is for adults and while some anime can seem culturally strange, most of the stuff that makes its way over to America is mainstream enough that even a casual viewer should be able to understand and enjoy it.

This being said, there is some truly whack-a-doo stuff coming out of Japan, and a lot of it is inaccessible unless you know some things about Japanese culture, and even then it can seem pretty wild. I've refrained from talking about anime on this site for that specific reason; even in 2015 it's still regarded as a subculture in America (and in a lot of Japan), and I didn't want to alienate anyone.

Then I thought, screw that, there's some really great anime out there and I want to be able to freely talk about my favorite stuff without feeling like my average reader won't "get it". I spent most of my time when I was between the ages of thirteen and twenty inhaling anime and manga, and it's had a profound influence on my personal style. So today, we're going to be looking at a series that is undeniably strange, artistically fascinating, emotionally resonant, and a superb example of what anime can be.